The Birthday Girl...Medina!

Ian and Alicia introduce The Exchange to Edgewood EMS

That’s right! Medina marks birthday number two out of four we’ll be celebrating on The Exchange! Medina is such a bright light on the Exchange. She has such an infectious laugh and always makes people smile. Her passion and dedication to serve is so evident in how she works and this trip would not be the same without her!

We had an amazing day today, as the Native Health Initiative (NHI) invited us to spend the majority of our day with them. Dr. Anthony and Shannon Fleg welcomed us into their house this morning for a delicious, home cooked New Mexico style breakfast. It was the perfect way to start as we exchanged in a profound discussion led by a blessing to mark the start of the day’s events.

You can't go to fire station without a picture on a fire truck...The Exchange with Edgewood EMS and NHI

Our first stop was at Edgewood fire station and EMS where the group helped NHI present a workshop titled “Identifying and Amplifying the Strengths and Assets of Our Communities to Improve Health.” It’s important we recognize all sectors that work toward improving health care and our communities. We addressed the need to work first in our communities and one of my favorite things Anthony said was, “How can we improve health care, when we haven’t even begun to find the real solution?” Talking with firefighters brought a common ground when Anthony asked us, “How many hours do you volunteer?” No matter what profession we’re in, we are still working together toward for communities in serving. We were so humbled to be welcomed into Edgewood and exchange in an amazing dialogue with them.

Look how close we are to Cuba...New Mexico

From Edgewood we headed to Jimez Feast where we were blown away by the beauty of an astounding culture and crowd. We were invited into a home to eat and eventually made our way back to Albuquerque in the evening to close out the day with a delicious group dinner a well-known Albuquerque landmark…The Frontier. Yum!

Tomorrow marks a very busy day as we will visit with students from the University of New Mexico and volunteer are time later in the afternoon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to NHI and The Flegs. What an incredible day we had with you. Thank you doesn’t express half of what we felt today, but we believe this is the beginning in working with each other and we look forward to meeting up with you again. Thank you to Edgewood EMS for your hospitality and welcoming us into your second home away from home. So much fun was had!

-Tasha